Our View: Give new housing development zones a chance

Some Fall River residents and officials have expressed concern and skepticism over a proposal to introduce new housing development zones, harnessing an expanding state tax credit program to attract development in mills and assist multi-unit housing owners to fix up homes in need of rehabilitation. Despite the early opposition...

Some Fall River residents and officials have expressed concern and skepticism over a proposal to introduce new housing development zones, harnessing an expanding state tax credit program to attract development in mills and assist multi-unit housing owners to fix up homes in need of rehabilitation. Despite the early opposition, this strategy could be just what Fall River needs to transform vacant and decaying buildings into attractive market-rate housing.

The South End Housing Development Zone is one area city officials have proposed for this type of incentivized development, while the Central Housing Development Zone would help encourage development in the city center. The central housing area abuts the waterfront zone. That area has already approved for a housing development zone, including Border City Mills. The newly proposed zones could complement such efforts.

The state tax credit program has recently been expanded for development of market-rate housing and to help owners rehabilitate problem properties. With Fall River offering more than its fair share of affordable housing over the years, some are concerned that this proposal could open the door to even more subsidized housing and the real or perceived destabilization that low-income housing can bring to neighborhoods.

City officials must clarify whether this tax credit program would exclusively go toward market-rate housing development in Fall River, or if it would also encourage further development of subsidized housing, which is a politically unpopular proposition in some circles. But it is important for residents and officials to keep an open mind as the city seeks ways to encourage reuse of the aging buildings that are a part of our city’s landscape.

In order for the city to participate in the Gateway Cities program designed by the state Department of Housing and Community Development, the city must hold public hearings — the first is scheduled for Aug. 5 at 5 p.m. in the City Council Hearing Room in Government Center — where the city’s planning division will officially propose the two housing development zones. The method of implementation must then be approved by the City Council.

With numerous vacant mill buildings and old schools rotting away and posing hazards to their surrounding neighborhoods, along with an aging housing stock in need of repair, efforts to encourage rehabilitation of properties could help stabilize neighborhoods that have fallen on hard times.

Transforming old mills into market-rate housing units has been a very successful economic development strategy in other areas. City officials have long talked about a desire to make Fall River a more attractive place for young professionals to live. This proposal for these incentives could represent the missing ingredient to spur such development.